Brewers Sign Lorenzo Cain

January 29th, 6:10pm: Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports has the details on some incentives in Cain’s contract (Twitterlinks). The outfielder will reportedly earn $300K every time he makes the All-Star team. He’ll also earn $500K if he’s ever named league MVP, $250K if he finishes second through fifth in the MVP voting, and $125K if he finishes 6th through 10th. Cain can also make an extra $50K by winning the World Series MVP award, and he’ll pocket $25K any time he wins a Gold Glove, Silver Slugger, or LCS MVP. Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports confirms the incentives, and notes that the Brewers will also reserve a suite for Cain at Miller Park during 20 games each season, while pointing out that the estimated value of Cain’s contract with deferments in mind is actually $78,917,630.

January 26th, 2:48pm: Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that Cain will earn $13MM in 2018, $14MM in 2019, $15MM in 2020, $16MM in 2021 and $17MM in 2022 (Twitterlinks). He’ll also receive an additional, deferred payment of $1MM in each of the five years following the contract’s conclusion. The no-trade provision offers complete protection in year one of the deal and limited protection each season thereafter, dropping down to five teams in the final year of the contract. More specifically, MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy adds that Cain can block deals to 15 teams in 2019, seven teams in 2020 and five in 2021-22.

12:00pm: In a stunning turn, the Brewers even further bolstered their outfield, announcing on Friday that they’ve signed Lorenzo Cainto a five-year pact that will reportedly guarantee him $80MM. The All Bases Covered client will reportedly pick up no-trade rights as well, with full protection early in the contract and more limited no-trade provisions in its later years.

Cain will join Christian Yelich in a stunningly re-made Milwaukee outfield — opening up new avenues for trades of existing players that could shake the market. The signing also breaks open a moribund free agent signing period, with a premium player scoring a big contract for the first time in weeks.

Milwaukee had a clear need to improve its rotation when the winter started, particularly given uncertainty surrounding righty Jimmy Nelson. The organization has decided first to improve the outfield, though that could all be part of a plan to move other assets for starting pitching. Santana and Phillips could both be hotly pursued assets, with a variety of teams — the Athletics, Braves, and Rays all make some degree of sense on paper — potentially representing suitors with some pitching on offer.

As much as the signing could mean for the trade market, it’s a welcome sign for players anxiously watching a slow-motion free agent period. In MLBTR’s top 50 free agent ranking, we predicted that Cain would secure $70MM over four years, so this represents a strong contract for the excellent but soon-to-be 32-year-old outfielder. The contract is the first this winter that guarantees more than three seasons and more than $60MM. Cain becomes only the second of MLBTR’s ten top-rated free agents who has signed to this point.

It’s equally intriguing to consider the teams that missed out on Cain. Crasnick again has the details, tweeting that the Dodgers, Cubs, Giants, and Indians were involved in the market. While San Francisco was long known to have interest, tempered by its luxury tax considerations, the other clubs are all rather eye-opening pursuers in various regards. Los Angeles has been tough to decipher all winter long as it watches its own payroll. The Cubs have a fairly well-stocked outfield mix but seem to have irons in a variety of fires. And the Indians have signaled they don’t have much more to spend, but were evidently still willing to consider a major win-now move (presumably with other salary-shedding efforts to accompany it).

It seems hard to recall after his years in Kansas City, but Cain was once a Brewer. Indeed, he joined the Milwaukee organization as a 17th-round pick way back in 2004. As Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel notes on Twitter, both Cain and Jeremy Jeffress have returned to the Brewers after being dealt to the Royals in the 2010 Zack Greinke swap.

In the interim, Cain has emerged as a star. He reached his career pinnacle in 2015, turning in elite efforts at the plate, on the bases, and in the field to rack up 6.5 fWAR. After a step back in the ensuing season, which was marred in part by injury, Cain emerged again in 2017.

While initial reports connecting Cain to Milwaukee this offseason came as somewhat of a surprise, it appears he’s been on their radar since the onset of free agency. “They said from the minute free agency opened that I was on the top of their list,” Cain said in a chat with MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan.. “We just had to work through all the details, and eventually we both got to the numbers we liked.”

Even if Cain’s superstar-level ’15 output isn’t likely to be repeated, the Brewers will hope he can keep up his most recent efforts. Last year, Cain dropped his strikeout rate to a career-low 15.5%, walked at a career-best 8.4%, compiled 15 home runs and 26 steals, and ended with an even .300 batting average. While metrics now grade him more as a good than a great fielder in center, Cain remains a high-quality all-around performer.

Since Cain rejected a qualifying offer from the Royals, draft compensation will result from the signing. As an organization that received revenue sharing and did not go past the competitive balance tax line in 2017, Milwaukee will have to sacrifice its third-highest draft pick. Notably, MLBTR has confirmed that Competitive Balance draft picks are exempt from this type of forfeiture, however, meaning the Brewers will only have to surrender their third-round selection. For the Royals, bidding adieu to Cain — since he signed for more than $50MM — will mean recouping a pick after the end of the first round of the 2018 draft.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported the agreement (via Twitter). ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick reported the terms of the deal (Twitterlinks).

No one scared about Cain or Yelich. Brewers need SP then will talk.
Remember Gordon, Yelich, Ozuna and Stranton all played on the same team and was still below 500 and a losing team. Now that is scary. Cub fans scared not even close.

And yet the Cubs are going to lose Arrieta and Lester wasn’t even #1 in Boston. The Cubs have two #2 starters, a #3 and a bunch of #5’s. I’m not a fan of either team, but I’d rather have three #2’s and offense/defense. You don’t need an ace in the NL Central, it’s a three-team race until the deadline and then whichever team makes the best move wins the division every year.

See: Cubs acquiring Chapman in 2016, Cubs acquiring Jose Quintana in 2017. Also see: 2014 & 2015 Cardinals. Before that, it was a two-team race between the Cards and Pirates. You don’t need an ace to win the NL Central anymore.

Let’s make sure we are all still talking about the Yelich who hit .282/.369/.439 last year and the Lorenzo Cain who hit
.300/.363/.440 last year. Don’t get me wrong, these are quality slash lines and quality players. But let’s not get carried away here… they combined for 33 homers, and much of Yelich’s value is derived from his contract. I like the two players, but these guys aren’t offensive superstars. The offense will be good, but they still lack pitching, even if Hader is really good (and I think he will be). This team probably still wins 86 games.

Agreed. But they lost Jimmy Nelson. No pitcher really ever returns successfully from a throwing shoulder labrum tear. Michael Pineda closest thing to it last year and a half. They’ve lost some war there. Plus much of their hot start was based upon Eric Thames unrepeatable April. The league adjusted to him. He’ll never be that again. Brewers likely over achieved a little last year.

How do you not see what the Brewers are doing right now? They’ve set themselves up to improve starting pitching big time. Do you really think they’re going to keep Santana on the squad with Braun, yelich, and Cain? Hell no! He’s getting packaged and moved for a top of the rotation type arm.

The Brewers are going to make a play for moustakas who can handle 1st or third freeing them up to package either thanks or Shaw in a deal with Santana.

When Nelson gets back (and all indications are he’s very ahead of schedule) this rotation will be dangerous. Nelson, Davies, Anderson and whatever pitcher they trade for, or hell even sign in FA… I like how this is looking!

I’d like to see the cubs add another proven starter, but their starters aren’t exactly mediocre at the moment. They have 3 quality 2 starters, with Q and Hendricks still showing some room for growth. I’d like to see Q in the NL for another year as well. The guy has put up some great numbers in the AL, is entering his prime, and he should be fully adjusted to the cubs. I wouldn’t be surprised of he took the next step. Before you try to right off Hendricks as a 2, the man has a 2.94 ERA over nearly 600 IP in the show. I get it, he doesn’t throw 98. But the guy is much closer to a TOR than an innings eater…

As for the pen, the narrative that its terrible just isn’t true. I’m not saying their pen is the yanks or anything, but they have a lot of quality options. Morrow has that prospect pedigree, and he’s finally harnessed command to go with his lights out stuff. Its not unheard for guys with his talent to figure it out after bouncing around the league. I mean the dude struck out 17 batters in a game; the talent is there. Chisek has over 100 saves and a 2.73 ERA in his career, and i highly doubt Justin Wilson just completely forgot how to through a baseball. They still have Pedro Strop, who is criminally underrated and has had an ERA under 3 every yr in Chicago, while CJ Edward is very talented and running a k per 9 rates of nearly 13, while being extremely hard to barrel up seeing as he allows opp batting averages in the 170s. Brian Duensing may not be flashy, but he gets the job done, is under market value, and he was very consistent last year, eventually becoming Maddon’s most trusted arm after Davis thanks to compiling a 2.74 ERA. His signing allows Monty to ne used in the rotation or as a high quality swingman. Plus Dillon Maples awaits in the wings with his heavy fastball ranging between 95-100 with tons of movement, a potential plus plus slider that’s devastating, and an already above average power curve that rates plus when he gets on top of it.

Your comment just isn’t accurate, and its not backed up by any evidence. Its pretty foolish to act like you know a team when you have virtually no idea what you’re talking about

And if they would’ve had Corey Knebel as the closer all the season they probably would’ve won the Central. You can keep playing all these scenarios but all of those scenarios is what makes baseball great

@ themed damn someone sounds a bit a butthurt. i’d suggest getting used to seeing the cubs highly competitive. i’m not saying you have to like it, but your life might become a bit easier accepting it. any reasonable person knows we aren’t going anywhere, especially after the new TV deal is signed since the cubs are the only north american major market sports team without a long term deal. the cash influx from that will come right before our young players hit free agency

Our CF spot used to hit at the bottom of the lineup, now it will go to the top. Yelich was in a pitcher friendly park and if you know anything g about Miller Park would see his 20ish hrs going to 30ish hrs. I wouldn’t mind one of the top tier pitchers to take us over the top but our core is very young. The door is just starting to open in Beerland

Clearly you didn’t watch baseball last year. The Brewers finished a game out of a wild card spot. The Brewers pitching is also much better than the Marlins with Nelson, Anderson and Davies and they have been in talks with Darvish and Arrieta. Their bullpen is also much better.

Did you not watch baseball last year? The Brewers finished a game back of the second Wild Card spot. Also, the Brewers have a much better rotation with Nelson, Anderson and Davies and they have been in talks with Arrieta and Darvish. The Brewers also have a much better bullpen than the Marlins.

What’s to be scared about? Braun or Santana will be benched or traded.. they had a 3rd baseman that had a big year, let’s see him do it again. Thames won’t start off like he did last year. Brewers have one decent guy in the pen and a couple decent starters. Whoopty Doo.. brewers lose power also. Cubs will average 5+ runs a game. Especially if one of schwarber/Russell/heyward bounce back, if more than one then it’s game over

Ha ha. Respect not scared. Brewers made two good moves. Nats dodgers diamondbacks are solid as well . Cards always play cubs tough as well. It’s up to theo to do his magic. Need darvish or Cobb. Congrats to Brewers. Let’s play two .

Yelich is fantastic. Don’t downplay his slash line, which is really good. Remember that he had better road splits and that he played in a pitchers park. The numbers should be better in Miller Park.

Don’t get me wrong. I still think the Cubs are better. I base most of that on the second half. I think the Cubs were closer to their second half selves. And the Brewers were closer to their second half selves as well. But these moves make the Brewers much better than they were. If Shaw and Thames continue to hit it the middle, then they should give the Cubs a run.

As a Cubs fan, I also like what Milwaukee is doing. But let’s not get silly. Braun is mostly untraceable so Santana has to be the one that goes if they want anything back. But that’s tricky because his clock is ticking, and his cost control doesn’t line up with a lot of rebuilds. Also keep in mind that the Cubs struggled to move outfield prospects for young, cost controlled starters. So it’s not like Santana on his own is going to bring back a game changer. My first call, if I were the Brewers, would be to call the White Sox. They have a surplus of young pitching, a window that has moved up, and a need for a corner outfielder in their system (unless you believe in Avi Garcia.) Perhaps the Sox would be willing to listen on Lopez or Cease for Santana. Neither are sure things but both are about what id expect for Santana straight up.

Agreed he isn’t done. But what’s the reasonable expected return for Santana? He’s good and has potential to get better, but cost controlled starting pitching is significantly more valuable than Santana alone.

Not scared in the slightest. As a Cubs fan, I was most worried about LA and Washington. That’s still the case. Brewers improved for sure, but if the Cubs can’t beat the Brewers then they weren’t going to beat LA or Washington anyway …

That’s simply untrue. Cubs rotation of Hendricks, Lester and Q is considerably better than the Brewers rotation. Love Davies, though. He’s got some serious upside. But Anderson is an average pitcher who had some great stretches last year. And Nelson is a 4 on the Cubs at best. Keep in mind when talking snout last year – Hendricks missed 1/3 of the year. Q was only around half the season. And by the time both were in healthy and in the rotation, Arrieta was injured. The Cubs didn’t go through any stetfch of the season with anything more than 3 qualify healthy starters.

I agree with Cain not being an offensive superstar but not with Yelich. Keep in mind he played in arguably one of the most spacious parks in baseball last year. Over the last two seasons he has averaged 19HR and 90RBI with a .290 average and .370 OBP. A move to Milwaukee will only help his HR totals and even so .290-19-90 with a .370 OBP and 15 SB is better than quality. Especially when you factor in his defense in LF now.

A team that has won over 90 games each of the past 3 season is an injury away from a .500 team? If you know about WAR, even MVP candidates like Bryant only add 7-8 wins a season. Good for Brewers fans that they have a good farm, they are copying the Cubs’ success, but as you can see from the 2011-2014 Cubs, prospects won’t help you win games during the season. I’m not panicking. Yes, Yelich and Cain are good players, but how many wins will they add to the team combined? 5-8 maybe. And as long as you are talking about Bryant and Rizzo getting injured there is no guarantee Brewers players won’t get injured.

Cubs also took 100 games off last year. Probably to make the brewers think they are closer than they really are, then the brewers go out and blow their farm system on a overrated outfielder and blow their money on a 1 tool whose tool is aging rapidly.

Blow their farm system? Pretty sure they still have 4 top 100 prospects to the cubs 0. The fact that you are saying the cubs took 2/3 of the season “off” is also a joke. Don’t get me started on a controllable bat like Yelich being overrated either. You saline salty to me.

Their team doesn’t revolve around Bryant and Rizzo if let’s say Rizzo gets hurt. It’s simple Bryant plays 1st. Baez goes to 3rd Russell goes to short and Happ or Zobrist plays 2nd. Still with that infield its a top 5 infield. They’re top 3 with Bryant, Russell, Baez and Rizzo 3rd to 1st.
And even with someone like La Stella or Happ they’re still a top 7 or 8 infield .

Top 100 prospects have never won a World Series in the minors, the Indians were struggling and turned it on in the second half because of the hangover…yelich is a controllable bat, and that’s what he is, maybe an all star every other year but no superstar, Milwaukee adds a front of the rotation starter and they look good on paper…on paper a lot of teams look good including the cubs

Rizzo,Bryant Baez, Russell, Schwarber are all mvp candidates. Their infield alone could easily have 100 homeruns between them. Hell between KB , Rizz, scwarbs, that could be 150 right there. Add 30 each from Happ, Baez, Contreras and Russell. They’ll have no problems winning the NL Central

Wait a minute. The Cubs won 92 games in 2017. Losing Kris Bryant is losing 6 WAR. Thus Cubs would be at 86 wins. Let’s argue the Brewers added more WAR with the additions of Yelich and Cain. This now vaults the Brewers over the Cubs in this scenario.

Another thing to think of. Have the Cubs gotten better than 2017? Many fans say they underachieved in 2017. Maybe they overachieved in 2016?

Lester isn’t declining and looks more like a weak #2. Quintanas is a 3 always has been. No clue what Hendricks is do to madden being a whack job of a manager. Madden practically manages his way out of wins in the post season, most overrated manager in the game. Anyone on this message board could get the cubs to 85 wins with all that depth and talent. Cubs 90 wins seems like the ceiling In 2018

@ pullhitter you’re contradicting yourself. if anyone on this board could get the cubs to 85 wins with all of their “depth and talent” then how is 90 wins their ceiling? plus Q has averaged 4.5 WAR since becoming a full time starter. he’s closer to an ace than a 3. i bet you’re one of those people who thinks Chris Archer is better

It was a bit of an overpay for Yelich but he had a down year and still was more productive then what the Brewers got last year. Add in the fact that Cain is hitting .300, has been a defensive stud (albeit not as stellar but still strong), top notch baserunning, and solid pop for a guy that was hitting at Kauffman combines to make your comment sound beautifully asinine and only makes you look stupid. I’m not even a brewers fan but credit is due, even if you are a butt hurt Cubs fan.

With a killer infield defense like that, Chatwood’s career 58% gb rate and .195 opponent average outside of Coors should theoretically lead to him posting an even lower ERA than the 2.57 mark he put up with the Rockies across the last 3 seasons.

I’m not saying he will, but the numbers do (he also has a career ERA under 2.00 against the whole NL central when pitching away from coors).

@Northsidecrossrifles in my opinion cubs have not addressed there issues that prevented them from repeating as World Series champs. The bullpen is still garbage and expect real regressions from morrow. No closer is a problem also, Davis should have been resigned. If you look at the numbers in depth you can notice Lester is headed towards a decline in performance but I could be completely wrong about him. A starting pitching staff with question marks on who is the real ace and if chatwood is capable of getting north of 175IP because madden loves his starters to log innings. I question the cubs pitching as a whole and if new pitching coach can get this staff to excel in 2018. Will see who they sign to round out the rotation but as it stand today I don’t see this team exceeding 90 wins or winning a World Series. I’m a fan of Quintana but he’s a low end 2 solid 3 in a good rotation. Archer is a quality starter and would have to see the numbers to fairly evaluate who is better statistically. You probably wish the cubs didn’t trade archer for Matt Garza. Another reason 90 win ceiling is where I have them is because no leadoff hitter and they thrived when they had Fowler setting the table. Adam Eaton would have been great for the cubs. I think they should allow Almora the opportunity in spring training to leadoff and he should get far more playing time than madden prevents him from having. Lastly zobrist, heyward, and schwarber all drag the cubs down. Zobrist takes time away from happ, heyward blows and is one of theirs worst moves ever next to Edwin Jackson, schwarber defensively is a liability will see how Jenny Craig worked out for him.

Schwarber got 1.7 War out of his arm I believe. Basically gave him a zero war in the field. He also hit .279 after the 10 days in the minors… I understand why people are down on him but I think they’ll be back up on him fast.

the matt garza trade as nothing to do with 2018. why even bring it up unless you’re trying to misdirect attention bc you know you can’t win the argument on merit alone. the fact that you don’t even know chris archer’s numbers is showing everyone your out of your element, and your basing viewpoints off of hot takes…. as for lester being on the decline, you very well may be right. however, if you remove his two starts prior before going on the DL, his numbers were much more in line with his career numbers, and he doesn’t need a lot of velocity to succeed. plus he performed well against superior competition in the playoffs. is he a borderline ace anymore? no, probably not. but can you expect solid production and 25 plus starts with a plethora of post season experience? you bet your behind you can

schwarber is rated around average by UZR and DRS. he has made a few bad plays im huge games, but he isn’t as horrific out there on a daily basis. the numbers back that up. he also has a cannon that helps offset some of his limitted defensive skills. also, he’s only had a couple years of reps in the outfield (he caught and DH’d mostly in the minors, and was rushed up bc of his bat). as a former outfielder myself, to start to track balls with your instincts, it takes years of practice and he just hasn’t had enough reps, plus he missed nearly all of 2016 with that horrific knee injury. he still wasn’t fully healthy last year, and he’s finally recovered from the effects. he also had a 894 OPS after being recalled from Iowa, so he will pleasantly (or not so pleasantly) surprise you this year

hahahahaha. top 5 infield…ok. Russell isn’t very good. weak arm for shortstop and offense isn’t too great. arcia is way better at short that Russell. if they were smart they’d trade him and put Baez at short. yeah both guys are show offs but they bring excitement.

@appbrew you realize russell isn’t the only guy in their infield? even if he was seen around the league as “not very good” which he most certainly is not, they still have a couple guys named Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Willson Contreras, and Javy Baez. plus Ben zobrist and Ian Happ backing them up. You insinuating that’s not top 5 is showing everyone you can’t objectively assess baseball. Also, outside of Willson, and possibly Rizzo, all those aformentioned names still have room for growth. to act like Russell is a finished product at 23 is a pretty big stretch. lets see what he can do without the off the field distractions of his now ex wife behind him, plus a healthy year. he missed two months due to injury, and had a 274/340/504 slash line upon returning. not saying he’s ever going to get there, but he still has a sky high ceiling, and progression isn’t always linear

The Cubs had a lot go wrong a year ago and didn’t come close to hitting their stride til about the 90 game mark. That’s not an opinion. It’s a fact. Stats and record prove it. Maybe it happens again, but I wouldn’t bank on that…

Schwarber was trash in first half for sure. But he was also coming off a mostly 18 month layoff. It’s like people ignore that fact. The guy hasn’t even had a full season of at bats in his big league career. He played in 4 games in 2016 before tearing up his knee and then made four starts in the World Series. But hey- trash him because he didn’t come back from that layoff and crush it … and hey, just ignore the .894 ops and .306 ISO he put up in the second half …

BP is volatile and can’t be judged in the offseason. Who’d have thought Duensing would have the year he had? Who’d have thought that Morrow would be a stud for the Dodgers? Anyone think Melancon was going to be hot garbage for SF? For real guys, you can’t predict the quality of a pen…

Even a pen that goes through 162 games looking dominant can blow up in October kinda like how LAs got destroyed in the WS…

justinept: Absolutely. In addition, manager Joe Maddon did Kyle Schwarber no favors in naming him the Cubs leadoff hitter to open the 2017 season. Just because Schwarber had shown a propensity for getting on base was not reason enough to ask him to perform a role he had never done as a professional before.

Schwarber’s power and hit tool suggest he would be an ideal middle of the order hitter. Although limited, his best MLB numbers have come when he has hit in the #5 or #6 slots of the batting order, something that definitely would work with the Cubs lineup in 2018.

I’m not among those who think Schwarber’s struggles in any way were related to him being the leadoff hitter. There’s nothing that proves he approached hitting leadoff any differently than he approaches an at-bat in the 4th inning…

justinept: Schwarber’s .200/.315/.387 triple slash and his less than preferred skills as a base runner are proof enough for me that he ought not be a leadoff hitter. His numbers in the #2 role aren’t much better.

On the other hand, Schwarber’s .273/.368/.667 line in the #5 slot and the .292/.346/.479 metric he has produced at #6 spot are more than enough to suggest that is exactly were he should be hitting for the Cubs in 2018. His prolific numbers in the minors also came as a middle of the order hitter.

Why wouldn’t the Cubs want to utilize Schwarber’s power in a spot affording more RBI opportunities? The same could be argued in the case of Kris Bryant who is better served batting cleanup than in the #2 slot. And which front office geek suggested to Maddon that Ben Zobrist was a good idea as the Cubs #4 hitter last season when he has always profiled as the ideal MLB #2 hitter as a switch-hitter with great patience and contact skills to match?

What’s more even disconcerting is that “Genius” Joe Maddon has already suggested that he may give Schwarber yet another opportunity to prove himself in the #1 spot this spring. Talk about being stubborn to a fault….

Btw: Kyle Schwarber also boasts an even worse .182/.289/.242 triple slash leading off in the first inning and a not much better line of .203/.299/.386 batting first in any inning. So why in the world would Maddon even suggest Schwarber as his leadoff hitter in 2018?

Maybe this is all coincidence but it sure appears as if Schwarber has changed his approach or is trying too hard to justify Maddon’s faith in him as a leadoff hitter. Time to leave well enough alone and put the man in a role he is accustomed to as a middle of the order power hitter.

Cause all cubs fans are 100 years old? Such a played out idiotic argument…American sports are all about what have you done for me lately, and the brewers have won the day…but they haven’t taken anything from the cubs or the cardinals for that matter, it’ll be a great 3 team division this year and for anyone to count anyone out is short sighted at best

All about what have you done for me lately? NFL, maybe a little. NBA, yeah, maybe. But baseball?? Baseball is all about tradition! No other sport comes close to baseball in terms of reverence for it’s past.

Tradition would exclude the cubs from winning the World Series when they did, and would exclude your team from using new age analytics…..the Yankees aren’t spending money, the marlins are selling dollars for pennies…there is nothing traditional about baseball anymore, if your an amped up brewers fan its because of what they have done lately

Tradition would exclude the cubs from winning the World Series when they did, and would exclude your team from using new age analytics…..the Yankees aren’t spending money, the marlins are selling dollars for pennies…there is nothing traditional about baseball anymore, brewers fans weren’t this amped yesterday, so what have the brewers done for their fans lately? They won the day

Native Wisconsinite here and I can attest to the fact that if the Brewers fall even a little out of the wild card race their fans will drop the season like a hot potato and start changing every baseball conversation to mock fantasy football drafts (this will even happen in late June or July)

It’s annoying as h*ll because baseball is the only sport I like and the average Wisconsinite treats baseball as something to pass the time in between football seasons.

You do realize that the Cubs outfield is not very good. Definitely in the lower 15 in the sport. They could use two true outfielders themselves and their rotation is a little weaker than last season already. Coming from a non-NL Central fan.

Really???? How deep is that farm now???? Ranked 27th by Baseball America. If the Cubs are going to make any significant moves, the players will have to come from the major league roster my friend. No players in the top 100 minor leaguers and all their “pitching depth” is in Rookie or Low A. I know you are a Cub fan and entitled to a bias opinion, but those are the facts.

bryzzo, don’t be that much of a homer. we all know that those trades would never happen, but that would add 15 WAR give or take, and address 3 weaknesses on their roster in catcher, an Ace, and 2b. They would be the division favorites

The bullpens of STL, CHC and MIL were all pretty even last year, and Davis has been replaced by Morrow and Cishek.

Do you think Davis had such an ungodly season that he’s better than a very solid ground-ball pitcher with closing experience who will be playing behind a great infield defense and a guy who didn’t give up a single home run in 43 innings last year?

They got those guys for the same price as Davis, and with 1 year less commitment.

As a life long diehard cubs fan…they might pal…lots of outfielders in the minors to make a move for a starter and we have the most expensive auto out in the majors in right field holding us back from adding high caliber starting pitching

Agree totally. It was a terrible day for the Brewers. They totally destroyed the momentum they had going and totally lost their minds on two bad transactions. Top prospect is gone, now they have an instant bad contract for the next five years. Incredible.

When I first read your message my first thought was crack is a bad drug my friend, but neither usnor the team will know how things pan out untill the season is done. I believe the trade was worth it. The past trades sterns has pulled off have been so far successful. We pretty much robbed the redsox for Shaw, and made some other good pickups. In Sterns we trust!

I like the players that the Brewers got but they overpaid for both. I get it, though, that they were going to pay more for Yellich due to his contact. He’ll be a financial steal for what he brings to the team but once I saw Harrison’s name added to the list, I wasn’t happy. And Cain is 32 and we sign him for 5? Yeeeesh. We’ve not had a very good history with long contracts nor older players.
But, both Yellich and Cain will be solid offensive producers and defensive upgrades but unless they have some other solid moves yet to come, such as a good starting pitcher, I think the cons will outweigh the pros. I’ll wait on that because they certainly can’t be done with all these outfielders. Can we dream about someone taking on Braun’s contract? Lol
Certainly, time will be the judge on these moves. After all, I didn’t like what we gave up for CC Sabbathia but we only gave up one good player, which was more of a throw in guy, Bradley.
Then again, we traded for Greinke and they all turned out good.
Perhaps the Brewers will trade for Odorizzi and Escobar? Lol

Haha teams just don’t seem to learn. They stay in contention for a little bit than they think they’re so close to winning it all so what do they do the following offseason? Spend big money dump some good farm guys only to be let down. Not gonna lie that outfield on paper looks stacked but c’mon now hahaha it’s the brewers they ain’t going nowhere

It’s too early to tell for sure, but many great teams have built a young core like the Brewers have and then sign FA’s and trade prospects for veteran leadership and skill..
I’m no expert but I’m pretty excited as a baseball fan to see the moves they make next and they they compete next season (remember how close they were to the WC last year).

@ Chisox hitting wasn’t the issue in the regular season. the cubs scored 822 runs, second in the NL to only the rockies who scored 824. lets be real, if last years cubs team teed off at coors 81 games a year, their numbers would look insane. the hitting next year doesn’t need to improve

@ caseys partner do you even know what you’re saying? if anything, your comment suggests pitching is much more of an issue. regardless of how good or bad your offense is, if you’re down 7 runs early you aren’t coming back. but if you want to ignore the 162 game sample size in favor of one game in a post season series (which tend to be randomized), be my guest. anyone who pays attention to baseball knows that the larger the sample size, the more legitimate

no casey, the cubs also won with their picthing. you can’t have your pitchers not perform and expect to win the world series. FYI, the cubs bats were shut out 4 times in the playoffs that year. The cubs pitching also held their opponents to 3 runs or less in 8 of those post season games, but it was ONLY their bats and defense right?

NL Cebtral may end up being the most competitive 3-team race. With their deep farm system, they seem to be in a great position to acquire a pitcher like Archer for Santana, Ray, Hader/Suter, + pitching prospect based on if Hader or Suter.

Nope, the Cubs outfield is not superior, but the rest of their team is. I’m not going to pretend the race hasn’t tightened, but anyone who thinks the Brewers became the NL Central favorites is delusional.

And when has Fangraphs ever been right about how games are played on the field? The Brewers now have the ability to acquire a frontline starter as they can now trade one of Santana or Broxton (or even both) and/or prospects to get pretty much any starter they want.

And, whether any Cubs fans want to admit it, they’re losing Arrieta and that puts the Brewers an ace away from being the favorites to win the division. The Brewers could even conceivable sign Arrieta himself and that both gives them wins AND takes them away from the Cubs, so I’m not sure where all this “the Brewers have no chance” talk is coming from. The Cubs are losing wins by losing Arrieta.

@ casey their lead writer is now in charge of the padres analytics department, and a lot of their staff has went onto work within mlb front offices. i don’t always agree with all of their work, but to disregard them or refer to them as “autistic pus sies” shows you’re lost in the sauce. they provide the most in depth analysis a fan can get outside of grabbing beers with an actual GM. they don’t just vomit out hot takes like you tend to do

we’re not going to come to any middle ground where fangraphs is concerned, so i’ll drop it since its futile.

however, that sucks you got banned. they should encourage alternate viewpoints. I got banned from bleacher report 3 years ago for debating their “writers” and exposing their limitted points of view. banning someone bc you disagree with them, regardless of how bad their views appear, is cowardice and un-American.

I think this puts them closer to the cards. They still need to add Darvish, or another quality starter, plus address second base and potentially catcher as well before they’re on the cubs level. With that being said, two qualiry moves for the crew. Its nice to see them going for it. Looking forward to hosting you guys at wrigley again this year

Braun has literally no trade value at his age with his contract, coupled with the fact he’s still widely viewed as a villian for lying multiple times about PEDs, getting off on a technicallity, and getting a man fired. Milwaukee would have to eat nearly all of his remaining contract to get anything of value in return, let alone a decent starter and an interesting prospect. right now ryan braun gets you ian kennedy, or wei men chen or another overpaid, over the hill starter. a braun deal just isn’t feasible unless the crew eats a ton of salary, which doesn’t seem likely. some combination of domingo santana, phillips, and broxton will be the pieces on the move

He’s 2.5 years younger. Also, Milwaukee gave up three other players, and they’re picking up Yelich’s salary (which, although a bargain, still constrains MIL’s budget far more than Brinson’s 550k would).

as a die hard cubs fan, we certainly have our share of fair weather fans. but i haven’t noticed near as many as i expected since we’ve become contenders again. we’ve got one of the largest and most widley spread fanbases in the nation. i’ve lived in several regions in the country, and i currently live 3 blocks from wrigley field. i haven’t noticed a huge influx of bandwagon fans. maybe you guys have, but there’s always been a ton of us, and we’re everywhere

Brewers def upgraded today. But like I said earlier – the Cubs slept through half a season and still won 90 games last year. They were without their best pitcher and their starting short stop for half the season. And they still won 90 games …

I’m not sure why you are getting downvoted. These moves really won’t have enough impact if the Brewers don’t also get a starter or even two. They need to make more moves or these ones were kind of a waste. Yelich is a long term piece for sure but you really don’t know what Cain is going to give in the last 3 years of that contract so it is more of a win now play.

The BEST team in the NL Central just got better. Ladies and Gentlemen your 2018 favorites to win the NL Central…. the Brewers.

This move with Yelich puts them so far beyond the Cubs at this point. This means there will likely be a tough battle between the Cardinals and Cubs for a wildcard because the Brewers are gonna run away with it. The Brewers are not even finished. I see them signing Darvish and possibly trading for Corbin. If for some reason Darvish chooses the Angels, Twins or Rangers I think the Brewers sign Cobb- a guy that has already said NO to the Cubs.

To say their the best team and they’re he division favorites is asinine. If the Cubs sign Darvish, their rotation is far superior to the Brewers and the Cubs infield is much better. I won’t pretend the Brewers didn’t improve themselves today, but it’s a bit premature to call them the better team.

Sure the Brewers have enough to trade for Archer, but it will wipe out most of their remaining farm. I have a hard time seeing the Brewers moving just about all of their top prospects in one offseason, but it would make for some serious upgrades to a team that won 86 games last season.

Wow, $16 million per for the age 32-36 seasons of Lorenzo Cain. Unbelievable waste of $80 million dollars. You might get half a season of 2018 and that’s it. One of the worst days in Brewers history today.

It’s one of those instant bad contracts. These arent the Yankees. They can afford Ellsbury and other bad contracts. This is an organization that just wasted $80 million dollars resources that are absolutely crucial to their success.

A guy who is projected to be north of 3 fWAR in 2018 (approximate value of $27-30MM) is going to look BAD in the first 3 months of year 1? Whatever narcotic you are using I would recommend putting it down immediately.

Using standard age regression based off a starting point of 3.3 fWAR you could reasonably expect Cain to produce $103MM in value over the 5 years. That’s $20MM+ in surplus. And these aren’t some crazy projections. He’s only at 1.3 fWAR in his final year. Perfectly doable. And even starting him at 3.3 might be too low. He was at 4.1 last year and outside of a comparatively poor 2016, he has posted win values of 4.8 and 6.5 in his last 4 years. The guy has been amazing over the last 4 seasons.

To suggest that this is stupid or a waste is beyond silly. It may not work out (any contract can turn ugly) but this isn’t some stupid move. The Brewers have a decent chance of recouping ALL of their investment. That’s something that is all too uncommon in most long-term FA deals.

I really wish people would start thinking around here instead of trolling. Really hurts the community.

GM’s are smart, I don’t think Sterns expects 5 2017-level years pout of Cain. If Cain plays at that level for another 1-2 years and the Brewers make a solid playoff run then, while everyone will complain as he declines in his mid-30’s,they might consider it worth it

You can absolutely count the Giants in the mix. They still need a power hitting OF and were willing to spend the money necessary for Stanton. They have money to spend especially if they reset under the tax threshold this year. Count on them being heavy in the mix.

It will be interesting to see how their rotation holds up with Chacin and Gallardo. Chacin was terrible outside of Petco last season and Gallardo was just flat out terrible. I would hope that Milwaukee keeps Santana and figures out how to bolster their pitching staff with depth, if nothing else.

I wouldn’t mind Braun hitting behind Freeman but I can’t see him waiving his NTC. But man I am wishing hard for Santana and I believe the Marlins will be moving Realmuto very soon wouldn’t mind takin Prafo’s contract back with him.
Wonder if the Braves got what it takes to pull Santana and still compete this year.

I feel like Santana is moving to first with Yelich Braun and Cain in the outfield. Santana is huge and has the body type for a prototypical first baseman. Thames ate ass second half may not be sold on him.

I feel Milwaukee is going to pull off a trade for possibly Archer now. Good for Milwaukee on making some splashes. When teams in the division get better, it just forces the Cubs front office to not be as stagnant so in a way, thank you Milwaukee

Cubs are still the team to beat in the Central, I agree. Brewers have improved greatly but still have a hole at 2B and there’s still what to do with Braun. Would love to see the Central being the best division in MLB again.